UW–Madison student Zoua Lor has been awarded a research grant from the American Psychological Association’s Commission on Ethnic Minority Recruitment, Retention, and Training for a project entitled, “A Study of Hmong Student-Family Relationships in College.”
Lor is a PhD student in the School of Education’s Department of Counseling Psychology.
The study seeks to explore the relationships between Hmong college students and their families while they are in college.
“Much of the literature on higher education and Southeast Asian Americans — including Hmong students — has focused on how families can affect student achievement,” Lor said. “However,” she continued, “less attention has been paid to how institutions and the pursuit of higher education can affect individuals and their families.”
The study will utilize qualitative methods to examine the socio-cultural processes in student-family relationships. Lor said she hopes such knowledge will inform a more complex, holistic, and culturally sensitive understanding of “the college experience” for Hmong students and their relational and community well-being.